A new study, published in the journal Information, Communication & Society, has found that Snapchat makes people happier than any other social network does.

Researchers from the University of Michigan recruited 154 college students who used smartphones and texted them six times a day over a two-week period. When the participants got the text, they had to answer a survey about their latest social interaction, who it was with, how supportive they were, and how they felt overall at that moment.

They found that when participants had Snapchat interactions, they felt more positive emotions than when they had Facebook interactions, and they paid the most attention to Snapchat messages. That might be because people don't feel insecure about how to present themselves on Snapchat, since the images disappear in seconds. In general, people found Snapchat to be similar to sitting down face to face with a friend, since the interactions are everyday and not recorded for posterity.

But on the other hand, Snapchats felt less supportive than Twitter, texting, email, phone calls, and face-to-face communication. Even though there is messaging included in Snapchat, most people use it to send quick, funny moments, not have heart-to-heart conversations.

This article was originally published on esquire.com.

From: Esquire UK